Autistic Tendencies

Though Tyson is not autistic, it would be easy to misdiagnose the many symptoms he presents from other conditions as Tyson being on the autistic spectrum.

Tyson’s teacher for nursery and reception was certainly under that assumption, due to Tyson’s ‘hyper fixation’ on maps, even going so far as to draw maps over everything he had already drawn. This was instead from Tyson’s form of Synesthesia and his attempts to understand, as well as simply drawing the maps he saw over people and objects.

However, as a child, Tyson didn’t have the awareness to explain that to his teacher or to understand why she was giving him extra attention over his classmates. Though it was ultimately unnecessary, Tyson does look back and appreciate everything that teacher did to help him.

Another way that Tyson can be misinterpreted as autistic is his tendency to ‘pressure stim’. He feels most comfortable when he has pressure and weight against his skin. This shows as almost always wearing multiple layers, regardless of how hot he is.

He can sleep whenever and wherever he needs to, but Tyson feels safest sleeping with his duvet wrapped around him. Even if that means that he melts in the summer.

Pup's Pet Store

Though he rarely bothers to open the shop, Tyson does own Pup’s Pet Store; named by his nephew. It’s largely a cover story to convince his brother that Tyson does have a normal life and it can help cover his activities within the web if he gains too much police attention.

His sister-in-law, Rosie, designed the business cards for the store, so that receipts or any other papers from the shop could be slotted inside. She was also the one to create the forms for Tyson’s shop and maps. Rosie has since made an updated and larger range for him, so that Tyson can make his business look legitimate under scrutiny.

As well as selling pet supplies, Tyson offers a service where he helps people track down their ideal pet from the various shelters and breeders around London, and he will occasionally offer training if he likes the person enough.

He has a …deal of sorts with Jeremy, the owner of the butcher’s shop two doors down from Tyson’s pet shop. Tyson buys his meat there and recommends it to other people, and in turn Jeremy offers him a safe place to hide whilst making unsubtle comments about favours that Tyson might owe him.

The top floor of Tyson’s pet store is largely used as a place for Tyson to make his maps, as Tyson’s apartment lacks floor space to work on them and he keeps most of his supplies at the store. That isn’t to say that Tyson has a lot of space at his store either.

As the majority of the upper floor is often covered in drying maps, Tyson has a pair of long wooden planks and four rubber bricks to walk around the room without disrupting anything; and, naturally, has trained his dogs to walk over them too. Lily and Bobby will sometimes hop onto the planks even when nothing else is on the floor.

Tyson can pivot around the maps and sometimes when he’s working on too many at once, he will move the planks out of the way to free up more floor space, but he honestly finds it fun to balance on the blanks and it helps prevent any accidents from happening.

Radar

Though Tyson is incredibly talented with maps, one of his least favourite assignments was having to coordinate with the radar to track enemy movements whilst in flight.

It was rare that Tyson was taken on those missions, and it was easier than trying to coordinate from second-hand information from someone else reading the radar, but that did nothing to diminish Tyson’s hatred of those assignments.

He can’t explain how difficult it was to combine the way radar displays area information with the way traditional maps displays area information. The latter is the structure of Tyson’s entire life, the way he literally viewed the world through his Synesthesia and has shaped his entire thought process.

The former is an entirely different being. He can work out how to transfer that information if given time, but it’s apples to oranges. As though suddenly working with an entirely new language. He feels lost and off-kilter.

For Tyson, the worst part if that he can’t explain why it’s so difficult to understand or what makes it so different from his usual type of mapping.

Stars

The stars are very important to Tyson.

To quote from a thread with flight-of-the-thieving-magpie:

For Tyson and his Synesthesia, star charts were the same as any other maps, though he’d needed to learn how the map changed orientation throughout the year. [x]

The Delaney family manor was outside of the city, but still close enough to Cambridge to be affected by its light pollution. It had been a mixed bag when looking up at the night sky. When looking towards the city, some stars were still visible but even the highest ones were dulled. When looking out towards the hills, however, Tyson had a clearer view. “Myb-brother, Jethro, used to sneak me outside at night t-to go swimming in the creak.” …

“It was amazing, h-how much clearer the stars were back t-there. I kept ignoring his attempts to teach m-me how to swim to watch the stars instead. H-He found a book about constellations for me when we g-got back home. Of course, as it was father’s l-library Jethro took it from, it was almost t-too old to read from, but…” Tyson let out a soft chuckle. “I fell in love with t-the tales. It was a collection of Roman and G-Greek fables about the stars. Finally there w-were maps that other people cared about like I d-did. Only they weren’t just lines on a page, but f-flickering above instead. Almost tangible.”  [x]

“Whatever tales they hold, however, s-stars are denoted by maps and maps will always b-be mathematics. Pure and miles from s-simple.” The corners of his mouth twitched into a fond smile, his gaze slipping from Jim to the space between them, as he continued, “Mathematics permeates everything. Where it n-not for mathematics those stories would mean nothing more to me than fairy tales do. Maths is the life blood of the universe, the secret to every glimmer of light above and to the void between. It is as beautiful as the stars themselves. A hidden code, a hidden language, throughout everything in existence.” [x]

To Tyson, the stars are beautiful maps that he can share with other people. That people can appreciate on, if not the same, a similar level to Tyson. It’s something Tyson can share with the Moriarty Mirrors and know that they understand each other perfectly, can see that childlike wonder in their eyes and know - whatever his doubts - he made the right choice to become their Pup.

He loves every legend, story, & fable about the stars. He loves the connection they give him to people, be it on an aesthetic, literary, mathematical, scientific, or spiritual level. Even though Tyson doesn’t believe in Astrology, he is always respectful of other people’s beliefs and any love of the stars is appreciated in Tyson’s eyes.

The stars have always been a constant comfort in his life. Untainted by the abuse of his father, Jethro running away from home, the lows and highs of his time in the army, The Colonel’s abuse, his time on the run, or his time with the Moriarty Mirrors. The stars are always there, sometimes in a different place or invisible to the naked eye but always there.

In Tyson’s Synesthesia, the stars are always bright, positive colours. By and large, constellations will all be seen in the same colour, but there are a few exceptions, when a star within a constellation is important on its own: golden Sirius in red-violet Canis Major and bright green Arcturus in pastel pink Boötes, for example.

The dots show what happened to Tyson or what Tyson did on his journey.
The arrows going right to left are where Tyson met Lily, when Tyson was nearly apprehended by the military, where Tyson broke his wrist climbing over a wall, and where he stayed several night because it seemed safe.